


Drabbles: One Piece

by factorielle



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2005-09-23
Updated: 2006-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:29:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/factorielle/pseuds/factorielle





	1. Famous Last Stand

This island, Zoro decided, had to be his own personal Hell. Nami insisted that they lay low, Chopper could pass for a pet, Luffy didn't care as long as he could wear his hat, Usopp was out cold for some dumb reason and Robin was supremely uninterested. And Mr 'I-may-let-you-top-me-but-I'm-still-manlier-than-you', Zoro's last comrade against total disgrace, had been told by Nami that he looked _good_. He wasn't sure what pissed him off more: that Nami had actually thought that it would be enough to convince Sanji not to complain about the traditional and very frilly _dress_ he was wearing, or that the idiot chef had proved her right.

The straw-hat crew was impervious to furious yelling, and they'd slowly backed him in a corner. This must be what walking the plank felt like, he thought, only in his opinion sharks were preferable to a piece of clothing that belonged on plump, middle-aged housewives. Then Luffy grinned, and with a sense of dread that Zoro had never experienced even against the strongest enemies, he suddenly knew he would lose this fight. But if this was going to be the Famous Last Stand of his male pride, he would not go down gracelessly.

'Fine,' he said, voice calm and eyes promising painful death to the heart-eyed moron. 'But I want a color that matches my hair.'


	2. Back to Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standing at the gates of Enies Lobby.

This is life as the Straw Hat pirates know it.

Gone are the doubts, the questioning, the grief of having lost crewmates to something they don't understand, can't make right again. There are no complex politics to this, no deeper meaning or rift between them. Only the simple truth of a nakama in danger, and the knowledge that the price to get her back to safety is their blood.

They stand in line, six of them openly defying the world's most powerful institution, and in that moment she knows with absolute certainty that everything will be alright.


	3. Shift

She knows where her duty is. That has never been her question, ever since she entered the service of the World Government. There is no way she would forget, even if she was alone, even after all the time spent here, and she knows that when the time come -sooner rather than later, now- she will do what she has to. But beyond the notion of duty, she is aware that things have blurred.

She sees at least one of them every day, in the course of work or rare relaxation, and while they are all too professional to let such things as meaningful glances or silent conversations happen, it reminds her.

Of being picked up in the dirty street where she was bound to live and die, because she had potential. Of the long years of harsh training, with nothing to encourage her but the thought of being allowed to work next to the man who had saved her. Of the day she was accepted in CP9, and the only time she saw him smile.

She is reminded, but it doesn't make her heart flutter anymore.

And sometimes, when she hears the secretaries giggling and gossiping and trying to predict when and if Paulie is finally going to confess to Iceburg-san, she stops and listens for a moment before she steps in and chastises them for not being hard at work.

Sometimes, when she has to cancel an appointment, her voice holds something like fondness as she makes up excuses and apologizes.

Sometimes, when she stays up late at night doing the actual mayoring work and he brings her a cup of tea and a grateful smile, it's hard to remember where is justice, and who is the man she pledged her loyalty to.


	4. Nature Selects

In real life, Zoro was almost there. He'd fought and won countless battles now, rising steadily up to second best. In his dreams,

_he'd beaten Mihawk over and over,_

"... speed of wind..."

_stood victorious at the top countless times._

"...no survivor, even..."

_In his dreams he kept his promise to Kuina and let her go,_

"... found the body?" the bastard cook's voice, slightly tense and grating on his nerves even in his sleep.

_finally able to move on to a life of his own,_

"... tell him?" Usopp, worried and bordering on panic.

_and possibly to someone who had been waiting for him to "get his head out of his ass" for a long time now._

"No way!" It was Nami's voice that finally pulled him out of his slumber, made him open his eyes and turn his head towards the trio huddled on the other side of the deck.

Sanji was facing away from him, leaning on the railing as he smoked. Nami's expression gave away nothing. And then there was Usopp, only a believable liar when his tales were obviously too big for him, whose face told a story of its own - as did the front page of the newspaper clutched in his hand. Typhoon, Zoro made out in the title, something that was unmistakeably a death toll, and the blur of a picture.

His mouth went dry, but he still managed to push out the words "is it true?"; his only answer was embarrassed looks and telltale silence, until Sanji said "number one, asshole," and punctuated it by flicking his cigarette bum in the ocean.

The congratulations had not tasted this bad, in his dreams.


	5. Outside, Looking In

He watches the bickering.

After a fight, when she orders him to assess the damage on the ship with a careless wave of her hand, and he eventually ends up going, grumbling all the while.

When he's done napping, and she knocks him over the head for sleeping through a bad storm again.

When he needs money, and she's there offering some with a sweet, sweet smile on her lips that will undoubtely bring devastation to his finances again.

When they reach a new island and captain, sniper and doctor can't hold back their enthusiasm. They look at each other, roll their eyes. Heave a long-suffering sigh. Follow, eventually.

He sees them bond.  


* * *

She watches the fights.

In the morning, when breakfast is ready and Luffy still asleep; blows and strokes are hard, fast and meant to kill - the best of trainings, always. The reason they're still alive, still improving.

In the afternoon, after arguing over one silly thing or the other -she never bothers to pay attention anymore- and they aim to hurt, be it body or pride. Sometimes one of them succeeds, and sulking ensues.

In the evening, when a crew of hopeful marines or shameless pirates attack them and Luffy is too busy eating, or sleeping, or fishing, or playing cards. They stand back to back for a second only before rushing off separately. They fight alone and move wherever the moment takes them, but anyone trying to sneak an attack at supporting hands finds themselves slashed through, and snipers out for a bounty are kicked off the deck a second before pulling the trigger.

Sometimes they get closer, and the Kitetsu slashes through the air a split second after a black-clad leg. Then a second later a kick misses short green hair by an inch. Again. Again. Again, until the last survivors gather their wits and flee and they're left standing back to back in the setting sun.

She sees them dance.  


* * *

He watches the rejection.

How she abuses him, and he lets her.

How she takes his grovelling for granted, and he takes it for granted that she appreciates the attention, when really she never gives a sign that she does.

How she takes the glass from his hand and thanks him without turning her eyes from the book or map that truly has her attention.

How she turns away in the middle of every declaration of undying love.

How she seems to hit him just a little bit harder and faster when he tries his doubtful charms on a new woman.

How whenever he looks like he's about to stop trying, she actually looks, and smiles, and makes her voice gentle, and that's enough to get him going again.

He sees them flirt.


	6. If at First You Don't Succeed

Food was not to be wasted. It was possibly the only thing about life that Zeff hadn't had to kick into Sanji's skull, and the only thing they really agreed on.

So the first time Sanji deemed his curry good enough to be presented to him, and did so with a flourish and a hopeful expression, it was nothing but a burning disappointment that the Head Chef finished every last grain of rice, because after he was done he looked at him with an expression that very clearly meant _So what?_

Such was their relationship that it only made him try harder, again and again.

Until one day, finally, the shitty old man finished, looked at him, and silently held out the plate for more.


	7. Near-Misses

He gets kisses and fumbling caresses behind the dojo, from a girl a few years older who's been _looking_ at him, but she's a readhead in a miniskirt and wouldn't know a katana from a foil and he knows that a week from now he'll have forgotten her name.

He shares an orgasm with a provocative blonde in a kitchen somewhere in Grand Line, but he can't help thinking that her hair is too long between his fingers, her hands too gentle on his skin, her thighs too weak around his hips.

He lets him lifelong ambition come second to saving the life of a brunette whose smile he's weak against, but it makes his dream feel cheap that she's a Marine and a swimmer and no Pirate King of his.

Sensei once told him that it was normal not to get everything right the first time, and it's possibly the only point on which Zoro wishes the man had been wrong.


	8. A Painful Lesson

He spends a week at the girl's side, mixing medicine to ease her pain and checking her temperature every few hours. The first three days she has moments of half-delirious, feverish consciousness, and at these times she hugs and cuddles him like he's her favorite plushie, and it hurts to know that if she was healthy she would treat him as a monster like everyone else.

It hurts more to face the parents afterward, because in their eyes the question 'are you sure you did everything you could to save her?' shines bright as daylight, and it's addressed to Doctorine when he is the one who treated her. Or tried to.

He knows nothing could have been done. He knew the moment he saw the shivering, huddled form that she would never see her seventh birthday, and the best anyone could do was allow her to go painlessly. But Doctorine's silence as they walk back feels accusatory, makes him second-guess himself and want to be somewhere else, anywhere were he won't have to feel the weight of his failure.

Then they reach the castle, and finally she looks at him, shakes her head, sighs. Reaches for a bottle the content of which is definitely not for healing purposes and tags a swig of it before handing it to him. It's something she's never done before, and he thinks maybe it is for healing, in a way, but he doesn't think it would work for him.

"It doesn't get any easier," she says, patting him on the head. "and it's always a losing battle in the end. But it doesn't mean we don't have to fight it."


	9. Overprotective

Zoro was a Man with a Dream. He understood all about Special Things That Had To Be Protected And Used Only For A Greater Purpose. Luffy had his hat, Usopp had Merry, Zoro himself had his swords, Sanji had his hands. Right. He understood. But he also understood that there were limits even to that, and the cook didn't seem to get it. Which wouldn't be much of a problem if he didn't regularly start whining about how unfair it was that he never got to be on top.

Alright, so maybe he didn't exactly phrase it like that.

Maybe there were a few curses and kicks involved.

Maybe even some threats of no sex for an undetermined amount of time.

So here Zoro was, laying half-naked (the interesting half, or it wouldn't be worth mentioning) on the floor of the galley in the middle of the night. He was also drunk enough that for once he'd left control of the situation in the hands, hah, of the stupid cook, and that always meant engaging in that old battle of will. Sometimes Zoro yielded. This time though, the alcohol was starting to make him sleepy, the lack of actual friction was making his cock soft and to be frank, he was fast losing interest.

"If you're not going to do it, shitty cook, get off me so I can get dressed," he snarled when it got clear that the situation was not going to progress. The cook expectedly made a face at him.

"Whatever you say, I'm not sticking any of my fingers _there_."

And that, Zoro reflected as he put his pants back on, was why he shouldn't let the cook even _try_ to top him.


	10. It's Infectious

Over that year, Ace met Shanks a grand total of five times. It wasn't that he didn't like the man, or his crew, or his occupation, or getting free food at Makino's (as opposed to getting free food of a lesser quality anywhere else). But Luffy was annoying with his hero-worship, and frankly Ace didn't see what all the fuss was about, so he found other things to entertain himself with (it was mostly napping, but not only).

Then one day his rubber brother came back with a new hat and eyes that shone with determination. Maybe that was what incited Ace to listen to what Luffy had to say without falling asleep, and even answer at the appropriate moments, for more than two minutes.

More than an hour.

Long past dinner.

So late it became early.

So maybe pirates were more interesting than he'd thought, he reflected as he watched the sun rise, absently patting his asleep brother's hair. Maybe he shouldn't try to discourage Luffy so much. Maybe they should talk about it a little more, when Luffy woke up.  


* * *

The day Ace turned seventeen, Luffy waved him off with the promise that he'd let Ace join his crew when they met again. For a moment, as he grinned at his brother, Ace thought that maybe he should wait until Luffy was of age, so that they could do it all together.

But just for a moment.

Three more years would be too long to wait.


End file.
